The Addict, The Ally & The Alien

August 16 - 17 2019 | SOMArts, San Francisco

The Addict, Ally & Alien is an immersive, sci-fi installation that transports the viewer into a spiritual, sacred space from the future. It was part of the exhibition “Rebooting the Future”.

The Addict, Ally & Alien takes place in a time where the symbiotic relationship of humans and machines have evolved, creating a new era of technology. In this era there is no longer a distinction between the machine and the human.

Inspired by Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis and Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto, this work explores the ways that the symbiotic relationship of humans and machines has evolved, creating a new era of technology. The sacred space is identified by three symbolic creatures, The Addict, Ally & Alien, represented in sculptural form. The creatures have non binary identities in the sense that they are not fully human or machine, and are constructed of materials and artefacts that may have been originally produced by Western phallogocentric societies for colonial and capitalistic domination. The Addict is made of textiles and knots symbolizing the digital connectivity and feedback loop associated with social media. The Ally is made of found western objects associated with the military and colonialism, acknowledging the dark side of technological advancement. The Alien is represented as an ephemeral projection, paying homage to human and machines symbiotic relationship, honoring the notion of the other.